Municipalities within Mountain View County are prepared should disaster strike, say officials.
Devastating explosions were caused by a runaway train that derailed in Lac-Mégnatic, Que. on July 6, killing at least two dozen people (as of press time Friday).
Lorne Thompson, Olds fire chief and deputy director of emergency management, said the Mountain View Regional Response Plan includes scenarios for train disasters, among other emergencies.
Mountain View County, Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs, Cremona, and Sundre all participate in the regional plan, he said, which allows for the sharing of resources and request for mutual aid to up the manpower most disasters would require.
“It makes us a little stronger. If we were all trying to rely on ourselves, it would be pretty tough,” said Thompson.
Inside the plan lie the general ways in which emergency situations – be it natural or man-made disasters – are dealt with, he said.
“You can't dream up every circumstance, but you can certainly look at the major components of an event, and figure out how to deal with it,” he said.
“For a train derailment, the first consideration would be public safety. I mean, we're going to want to determine what the product is that was on the car that tipped.
“We'd determine if it was tipped, if there was damage to the car – because these things are well-built. If they fall off, they don't wreck too easily, and puncturing them is rare.”
The product contained within would be determined, and based on whether or not that product posed a risk, how big, he said.
“Is the product on fire? Is it just leaking? Will it contaminate the air, ground water? Those are the sorts of questions we'd have to answer very quickly,” he said.
Emergency crews here would operate off what Thompson said they refer to as the “Orange Book”, a Canutec manual with all dangerous goods numbers and information on how to properly handle a situation where the goods are disturbed during transport.
“It tells you how to deal with it – minimum evacuation radiuses for (substances) on fire, and if it's not on fire, but just leaking. This is information we work with immediately to set up zones,” he said.
Because events like the one in Lac-Mégnatic happen suddenly, without warning, and need to be responded to quickly, Thompson said the crews train using what Olds Fire Department calls a “tabletop exercise”.
“We do tabletop exercises for tornadoes, derailments, blizzards,” he said. “The priority in any situation is the preservation of life; then we're going to look at property.
“Our goal is going to be to try and extinguish the fire, and also, cool down the car. You want to keep the temperature down so it doesn't boil.”
If resources weren't available to deal with it, a lot more emphasis would be placed on immediate evacuation for the proper radius, he said.
“If there is no one in the area, and it explodes – it will save their lives. Property can be rebuilt,” he said.
Bill Johnston, who is in charge of disaster mitigation planning and runs the tabletop training exercises as director of emergency management for the Town of Olds, said the incident command system they use ensures easy assimilation for mutual aid members.
For instance, if someone from another municipality comes to assist with a disaster through mutual aid, they know what to do because they operate by the same set of standards, Johnston said.
“You have to deal with the cards you're given,” said Johnston.
These cards, he said, come up different every time, preventing any one disaster plan from being fixed or certain.
Despite what people might think, a standard evacuation plan cannot exist, as people could be getting evacuated from one area of danger to another, and Johnston said he can't send citizens into harm's way.
Each community is risk-analyzed to determine the probability of different disasters occurring, and then the magnitude of that disaster if that probability were to become a reality, he said.
“So a rail line derailment, the potential is high, because we have how many trains a day go through here,” said Olds fire chief Thompson. “What's the potential impact? That's high as well.”
Two high ratings means training for disaster scenarios of this variety will rank higher in priority than for tornadoes passing through Olds (for instance), said Thompson.
“We do have a plan in place for tornadoes, but we're playing a crapshoot here. You're playing the odds,” he said.
Liquid gas, propane, chlorine, petroleum and many other dangerous substances are transported on a daily basis, he said.
“We can't control what they ship, and there are all kinds of products on the rail lines,” he said. “Really, the rail lines have a really good track record for transporting dangerous goods safely. In all honesty, shipping by rail is very safe – safer than shipping it by truck.”
Kevin Hrysak, a regional spokesperson for Canadian Pacific, had little comment in regard to CP Rail's practices or standards changing due to the events in Lac-Mégnatic.
“Out of respect to the residents and community at the centre of this incident and the investigations that are now taking place as to the cause, CP will not provide direct comment at this time,” said Hrysak.
Canadian Pacific merely “abides by, and meets or exceeds the standards” set out by the governing body of Transport Canada, he said.
Gerard McDonald, assistant deputy minister of safety and security at Transport Canada, spoke to press members via a teleconference held at Transport Canada's headquarters in Ottawa on July 9.
McDonald extended condolences on behalf of Transport Canada to those who lost loved ones as a result of the devastating events.
“Our thoughts and support go out to all those affected,” he said. “We do not yet know the cause of this tragic derailment, but transport Canada is committed to working with the transportation safety board. We will examine every means to make rail transportation even safer.”
In the new railway safety act, which came into effect May 1 of this year, Transport Canada has tightened rules around rail safety while toughening penalties for rule breakers, McDonald said.
“There is nothing more important than the safety and protection of Canadians. Since 2007, train accidents in Canada have gone down by 23 per cent, and train derailments are down by 26 per cent,” he said.
“Transport Canada spent 65 per cent more on rail safety in 2012/2013 than it did in 2006/2007. Up from $20.7 million to $34.2 million.”
